One of the saboteurs responsible for carrying out the attack on Poland’s railways is probably Evgenij Ivanov. In 2024 he was recruited by the GRU and carried out an attempted bombing of a drone factory in Lviv.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor signed a decision to bring charges against Oleksandr K. and Evgenij I., who are alleged to have carried out acts of sabotage on the railways in Poland. It is known that one of the saboteurs was convicted in absentia in May by a court in Lviv for acts of sabotage on the territory of Ukraine.
After analysing Ukrainian media reports, we came across Evgenij Ivanov. In July 2024 the portal “Sudovyi Reporter”(“Court Reporter”) described his activities on behalf of the Russian secret services. His first name and the initial of his surname match the information provided by the prosecutor. His age also corresponds to the man we describe. In 2024 Ukrainian media wrote about a “40-year-old Ivanov.” The prosecutor’s office stated that Ivanov was born in 1984.
Ivanov wanted to blow up a drone factory
As Ukrainian media describe it, officers of the Russian services recruited at the beginning of 2024 a man living in Belgorod, Russia – Evgenij Ivanov, born in the Kharkiv region. According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), it was he who was to coordinate an attempted sabotage operation at a factory producing unmanned aerial vehicles for the Ukrainian army.
Ivanov was drawn into activities against Ukraine by Yuriy Syzov, an officer of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU). Ivanov then allegedly recruited Lviv resident Yevhen Borysenko, a former employee of the “NVP Athlon Avia” plant, which manufactures combat drones.
Borysenko, who had been dismissed from the company and “held a grudge against his former employer,” agreed, in exchange for a promised sum of 40,000 dollars, to carry out an explosion on the factory grounds. According to “Sudovyi Reporter”, Syzov and Ivanov provided him with improvised explosive devices hidden in drink cartons and in a black Nike backpack.
SBU foils the attack
On the evening of 1 February 2024, Borysenko entered the factory using a magnetic key he had failed to return after his dismissal. In the changing room, he hid the backpack with explosives, which were supposed to go off in the early morning of 3 February.
The next day, 2 February, he returned to plant additional charges, but noticed security services on site. He therefore abandoned the bag with the bombs in the yard of a neighbouring building and fled.
The security services had earlier detected and neutralised the devices placed in the factory. Borysenko was detained and then – cooperating with investigators – helped expose his Russian handlers. On 18 February, under SBU control, he staged another planting of an explosive device for them.
Ukrainian officers faked an explosion and fire in part of the facility. Believing the operation to have been successful, the Russian “handler” – through Ivanov – transferred the promised 40,000 dollars to Borysenko and also promised to smuggle him safely to Russia.
On 22 July 2024, the deputy head of the investigative department of the SBU in Lviv brought charges against Evgenij Ivanov, including treason, participation in sabotage, attempted murder and the transfer of explosive materials. These charges were brought in absentia – by that time Ivanov was already in Russia.
Ukrainian media do not report what sentence Ivanov received.
